Jesus and the Fence in Laramie

Deaths in the public arena have always catapulted people into the spotlight in a very negative way. People often wonder why it has happened. Whether it was Jesus in Jerusalem, Matthew Shepherd in Laramie, The recent increase of LGBT hate crimes in New York, Lynchings of African Americans  in the Southern states in the 1960's,  all have a common feeling that comes from these incidents.Through all of these ordeals, emotions are a major driver. The three main discussions that are involved in this subject are fear, suffering, and most importantly, love.

Fear is the driving element that causes us to do things we often regret. One of these is Fear of the "other", fear that the other is not entitled to the same place in society that you already inhabit. People often say fear controls action. It is a very good point to remember. How many corporations profit off of our fear? How many organizations get huge chunks of money because you fear this other. More than one killer has got off because they supposedly felt threatened by a hoodie, by the supposed advances of a gay man (HINT:  JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE A HETEROSEXUAL MALE, EVERY HOMOSEXUAL MALE DOES NOT WANT YOU)

Fear is also experienced on the part of people being "targeted"/"profiled". This fear has caused more than one LGBT person act different out in public because they were scared of the actions of others. Whether it would be because they carry a pocketbook, or wear workboots instead of heels.

Through our fear and our actions because of our fear, we cause some suffering not only on ourselves but others. When we fear, we worry, when we worry we end up with hypertension ( or other problems) .When we worry more about ourselves, we don't love others and that protection instinct causes us to hurt others(a good bit of the Suffering in the world). The only way to conquer all of these emotions is LOVE

Love is important to any of these discussions on anything involving Christianity. Love is our driving force, not fear. Love is also the thing which helps us to stand our suffering. Love is what God commanded us to do, and reiterated through Jesus. I am reminded of these words from Alice Walker in " Love is Not Concerned" :

 Love is not concerned

with whom you pray

or where you slept

the night you ran away

from home.

Love is concerned

that the beating of your heart

should kill no one.

Matthew Shepherd 

The Lists.....

Last week's scripture was the story of Mary and Martha. In it, Jesus comes to dinner at Mary and Martha's house.It was the duty of the women in each house, to take care of all the house duties. Like was custom,Martha frantically prepares the bread, the meat and whatever else was on the variously prepared dishes that night. Mary, however, sits under the feet of Jesus, listening to him discuss whatever questions were asked of him this particular moment. As we all know, Martha in a fit, scolds Mary for not helping her with the busy tasks. Jesus then turns the tables on Martha, and tells her that those tasks never get done but that He will only be present for a short time....now that's the traditional synopsis of what the scripture has said.... TRADITIONALLY

Now let's make this story current. We all have these mile long lists that will never seem to get done because normally, items keep reappearing back on our lists that we just did yesterday. These lists grow because of societal standards/norms.  We always have to wash our dress shoes on Saturday if we are going out, because we have to. We always have to have clean socks on so we have to wash our clothes. We always have to have energy so therefore we have to cook and wash dishes after. We have to change the light bulbs so we can actually see what we are doing after the sun goes down. What Jesus is bringing up is actually a very basic idea. Time is a commodity we think we have a lot of, but in actuality, we don't. People have spent more there lives tolling away just working on their lists, and never got a thing done.

Therefore, we have to make time to live. To go for a walk and actually enjoy the sunshine on your face. You have to make time for the fun things in life. You have to make moments where you aren't scared of the next big and bad coming around the corner but the next big and really great good coming around the bend. We have to not only accept the upcoming bad, but also try to make it into a good if we can. Whether it be by hook or by crook. But the scary part is we have to be paying attention and never forget.

North Carolina, Florida, Texas (and many other states), are all in mists of crazy chaotic moments right now. We all legislators and governors who are bent on destroying the fundamentals of our society. They have been cutting everything from Pre-K programs, Safety nets for the poor, etc.

In other words, concentrate on a better List.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uDxF5q0V9s

A Wide Table

"He hath showed you thee, o man, what is good: And do what The Lord requires of thee, but do justly, to love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God" Micah 6.8 KJV 

Open or Closed are two big words in today's society. Open or Closed minds, Open or Closed books, Open Gates and Closed Fences are all phrases we continue to drop into our dialogue we engage in. Our collective "soul" as a whole is bigger than Conservative, Moderate and Liberal.

 This verse says a lot about how WE engage in our communities. Not just our faith communities, but school and work. Whether it is on the Unionizing of workers for equal pay and fair treatment or Marriage Equality. All conversations have the same basic elements. The space and two (or more) participants. Conversations are built on certain perimeters that either enable conversation or cause discussion to falter. Stuff that enables conversation are things like finding common ground, building bridges, etc. Stuff that disables communication are not doing those things which enable communication. Things like talking in different language and terms, etc. 

Love, mercy, and justice are often either found in discussions, or seeds of doubt (which isn't necessarily a bad thing), fear, anger, or hurt. The latter being the negative counterparts. 

There also ways to engage in community to either either grow the seeds of mistrust or grow the flowers of love. Some simple ways is actually hearing and listening at the same time. 

There are both conservative and liberal gardeners, conservative and liberal fence builders, conservative and liberal cooks/chefs. 

When we come to the Lord's Supper Table, we are not only opening ourselves to the great work of God. We open our hearts to all those we engage with in general. Our friends, our families, or significant others, all of which are connected to us in everyday life, but through our common "soul". We are not only our strongest parts, but also the weaker (voiceless) . The Voiceless among us would those who have lost there voice. The people who have sometimes been made mute by our statements, or the statements of society , or factions of society. 

May our actions and dialogue give everybody the room and ground to speak. Liberals and conservatives, orthodox and progressive, male and female, LGBT etc. 

Multiply the Love in Our Hearts

"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;  does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;  bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things..... Love never fails" I Corinthians 13.4-8 (New King James Version) 

Love is serious topic these days. Love is one of those things that is very hard to even pin down on what it is. In modern day context, Love is something we give to not only our dog, our family, our lovers/significant others, but it is also something we give to brands that we can't live without. I have got to the point lately where I don't even like to say I love Reese's cups, or any other assorted brands of chocolate. In this modern day of Rugged individualism, there is definitely Not Enough Love in Our hearts.

Last week we made momentous strides in the area of Love and Justice. With the Supreme Court striking down section 4 of  DOMA (The Defense of Marriage Act) , using the Equal protection cause. Marriages of Same Sex couples in 14 states in the United States now have the same rights and protections. There is still much work to be done with the other 37 states that still have discrimination enshrined in their Laws or in their states' Constitutions (including North Carolina)....Maybe we can find Love in our hearts 

Also in North Carolina, July 1st was the start of dangerous time for many families within the borders of the 100 counties from the mountains to the beach. More than 70,000 unemployed instantly lost their benefits. These benefits were going to people who in most cases were still looking for work (and with three people applying to every one job). I bring up these people to illustrate that Love is not shown to our fellow man.......Maybe we can multiply the Love in our hearts 

As I noted in the scripture earlier, "Love never fails"........I know sometimes we get beat down by the ever present doubt in our humanity. Doubt that is also ever present in the world surrounding us. Love, however, blows doubt away. I end with a song from Joyful Noise 

Let us multiply the love in our hearts, not only toward our loved ones, but toward ourselves, and to the stranger who we don't know........